Sammy Phantom
by Icouldntthinkofacoolname
Summary: After a harrowing battle with the Guys in White, Danny finds himself trapped in an alternate timeline where Sam received ghost powers and where Vlad has taken over the world...
1. Chapter 1

**Update: I finally finished the title card. It took a lot longer than I expected. Unfortunately, the image got cropped so I'll have to post it on Deviant Art or something. Nevertheless, this work is finally completed and I can now focus my attention on writing Final Exam…**

 _Author's Note:_ So, I decided to write my own fanfiction fourth season. This story represents what would be the first two episodes. I have tried to keep everything as consistent with the original content as I could, while still allowing the series to evolve. It is a bit darker than previous stories, but I would say no more so than "The Ultimate Enemy." Of course, I do not own Danny Phantom or any of the other characters from the show. They were created by Butch Hartman and are currently owned by Nickelodeon.

 _Teaser:_

"You know, I really miss when you guys were even worse ghost catchers than my parents!" Danny hissed quietly to himself, narrowly avoiding a bolt of purple energy that just barely missed his shoulder.

On the street below him, a little over a dozen Guys in White operatives had their blasters trained on him, each firing away and getting closer and closer to actually landing a hit.

Once upon a time they were some of the least competent ghost hunters in the world. However, after the Ghost King's invasion they had slowly become more efficient. But while they had become more effective, they still weren't much of a challenge. All that changed after the Disasteroid crisis. In the months that followed, they had become increasingly more skillful. They had become far more organized and efficient, becoming a far more dangerous challenge with each attack. Lately, Danny had been pushed to his limits just trying to escape them. Rumor on the street was that someone new had taken over, but the real reason they'd become so much more dangerous was still shrouded in mystery.

He skillfully flew past each of their bolts, but the shots were getting more precise and more rapid, making them much harder to dodge. He knew he had to get out of there and soon.

At that exact moment, a GIW operative on a nearby roof quickly assembled a blaster that was eerily reminiscent of a sniper rifle. He quickly lined Danny up with the crosshairs and pulled the trigger, sending a bolt of blue energy racing towards his target.

Danny did a flip to avoid an oncoming energy blast and soon found himself facing the opposite direction… which was just as well for him since he could now see the blue beam racing towards him. He pulled away just in time, only for a second beam to graze his shoulder. He grunted in pain and looked over to see another operative on another roof top. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a third operative assembling his own weapon. Between the three new snipers and the endless barrage of fire from below, Danny knew he was seriously outgunned. He needed to get out of there and fast. The Guys in White, while still dangerous, were still human and he didn't want to risk his ghost powers causing them serious harm. This meant that retreat was his only option here.

He flew away at full speed, desperately trying to get away. He pressed a button on the Fenton Phones in his ears. "Sam. Tucker. Come in!"

"We're here, Danny," he heard Sam's voice say on the other line.

"We hear you loud and clear, dude," Tucker confirmed.

"Who is it this time?" asked his female best friend-turned-girlfriend. "Skulker? Ember? Technus?"

"Worse. It's the Guys in White… again!"

"Seriously? That's like the twelfth time this month! That's pesty even by government standards!"

"Well, it gets worse. They've seriously upgraded their weapons and seem to have called in the A-Team today. I've been trying to lose them for a half an hour now but they keep popping up all over town. I think they're tracking me somehow."

"Have no fear, your tech-savvy mayor is here!" his male best friend boasted. "I should be able to hack into they're system from here. Then, I can disable their tracking and scramble their communications."

A few seconds later, a very frustrated Tucker popped back on. "What the heck? I've been completely locked out. They out-teched me! Technology betrayed me. Why, technology? Why?!"

While Danny was rolling his eyes at Tucker's overdramatization, he failed to notice the GIW sniper on the rooftop behind him. The operative fired a blast that hit Danny right between the shoulders, causing him to crash down hard on the street below.

Theme Song & Title Card

A barely conscious Danny soon found himself surrounded by a dozen GIW operatives, each with their blasters trained on him. As he began to drag himself to his feet, two men pushed themselves forward. Two bald men, one African-American and one Caucasian. Danny recognized them both: Operatives O and K. These jokers had been after him ever since Vlad put that bounty on his head. Thankfully, they weren't exactly the sharpest tools in the shed. If they were in charge, and he played his cards right, he should be able to come out of this on top.

"Attention Daniel Fenton," Operative O began. "You are hereby under arrest for breaking statute four-alpha, subsection D: fusing human DNA with that of a ghost. The punishment for such a serious crime is eradication."

Operative K unrolled a pack, revealing several terrifying-looking weapons. He eventually selected one that looked like a small, futuristic white pistol. "This device is the most humane eradicator we have at our disposal. It will pull you apart, molecule by molecule, in a matter of seconds."

He aimed the weapon at Danny and pulled the trigger. Immediately a panel opened in the back, with a tiny screen displaying a big digital zero.

"What's the meaning of this? This eradicator appears to be having a severe malfunction."

Operative O took a closer look at the weapon. "Negative. Equipment is in perfect working order. That is not an eradicator. It is a Spectral Speed Detector. It measures how fast ghosts are moving."

"It's a ghost speed gun?" his partner asked incredulously. "Seriously? Why do we even have that?"

Danny couldn't help but laugh. These bozos finally had him at their mercy and they still managed to bungle it. "Man, you guys are the very definition of 'good enough for government work'!"

Operative K put down the speed gun and picked up something that looked like a large white bullhorn. "This should do the trick."

When he aimed this new device at Danny, it released a series of pulsating green waves. Danny screamed in pain and felt himself getting weaker and weaker.

"Recognize this sensation? You should. This device is powered by ecto-ranium. It sends out waves to weaken and cripple ghosts. You may have stopped the Disasteroid from hitting the planet, but several large pieces still broke off and fell to earth, and we've been collecting each and every little fragment. The new commander has been hard at work designing new weapons like this one to harness the effects of ecto-ranium to neutralize the ghost threat."

 _New commander?_ Danny thought. _So, there_ is _someone new in charge… That certainly explains a lot._

But he didn't have time to ponder the matter further. Danny knew he couldn't last much longer. He felt almost completely out of energy and was about to lose consciousness. He only had one chance to get out of this. Summoning up every last bit of energy he had, he turned himself intangible and phased through the ground. He dropped into a dark tunnel and splashed into some foul-smelling water, having just fallen into the sewers. He wobbled to his feet, took a few steps, and collapsed. Then, everything went black…

Danny woke up in the dark covered in murky green sludge. He was completely disoriented and couldn't remember how he'd gotten here. He attempted to fly upwards but found himself too weak. He trudged forward, trying to find a way out. The farther he marched, the more he remembered. The Guys in White, the new commander, that ecto-ranium wave gun… It was all coming back to him. He noticed he was back in his human form. He must have reverted back when he passed out. He pressed a button on his Fenton Phones to contact Tucker and Sam, but all he heard was static on the other end.

 _I should have known_ , he berated himself. _I must be WAY out of range!_

He eventually came to a ladder which led up to a manhole cover. Danny ascended the ladder and slid the cover back. When he climbed out onto the street, he couldn't believe what he saw.

It still looked vaguely like Amity Park, but completely warped. The skies were now an eerie, unnatural crimson color. The buildings were all high-tech and futuristic looking. They were all made from black metal and covered in green lights and circuits, making them look unnervingly reminiscent to Technus' armor. Cars had been overturned and set on fire (ghostly green fire to be exact). A large billboard on the top of one of the new billboards read: "Ember- Live & In Concert!" Hordes of Walker's police goons marched, or rather floated, down the streets. Green ghosts swooped and flew through the sky.

"Houston, we have a problem."

No sooner had he said that, then a gruff voice from behind him growled: "We most certainly do have a problem!"

He turned around to see one of Walker's police goons hovering behind him, brandishing his police baton menacingly.

"You're out past curfew, son. That's against the rules!"

Danny took a step back. "I-I-I'm going ghost!" He raised his arms into the air. Nothing happened. "Ahem. I said I'm going ghost!" Still nothing. "Oh no. I can't go ghost!"

"Sorry son, but the only place you'll be going is straight to jail."

"Leave him alone!" a female voice called out.

The police ghost turned around only to be hit in the chest by a bolt of green energy, sending him flying backwards. A female silhouette descended from the sky and pulled out a Fenton thermos. She opened it, sucking the police ghost back inside.

"Are you alright, citizen?" the figure asked, trying to sound tough and heroic.

"Yeah, I think so. Thanks," he responded Suddenly, he noticed that the voice sounded familiar "Wait, Sam?"

Suddenly, the silhouette came into full view. It was indeed Sam, but she looked…different. Her hair was white and her eyes glowed green. She wore an outfit similar to the one he wore in his ghost form, except hers had an S instead of a D.

"Danny?" she asked, a look of confusion on her face. Then her face hardened into a look of anger. "Oh, you have some nerve showing up here!"

"What are you talking about? Where is here? What happened in Amity Park?!"

"Like you don't know… You live with the man who did all this! Or has life in Wisconsin been so perfect you haven't bothered to look out the window?"

"Wait…Wisconsin? Are saying Vlad is behind this?"

His archnemesis hadn't been seen since he flew off into space during the Disasteroid crisis. That had been two months ago. Some people thought he was gone for good, but Danny knew it was only a matter of time before he came back with another diabolical plot. Still, he had no idea how he could have accomplished all this in such a short amount of time.

"Well, duh! He only established himself overlord of the whole planet a few months ago! Come to think of it, that was the same time you abandoned us to a full-scale ghost invasion. You moved in with a megalomaniac and never looked back, leaving us to try and defend our home town all by ourselves. And here I thought you were our friend."

"I am your friend, Sam. More than that, you're my girlfriend. If you would just tell me what—"

"Girlfriend? Wow. Backstabbing and delusional. Now you're _really_ going to get blasted!"

"The only one getting blasted here will be you, ghost child!" a familiar deep voice boomed from behind them.

The booth turned to see Skulker flying towards Sam, launching a massive missile in their direction.

"I'm going…" Danny called out, but then realized he couldn't transform into his ghost form, "…to go hide over there!"

He ran behind a nearby tree and watched as Sam dodged out of the way of the missile just in the nick of time. She fired a series of ghost ray blasts at the ghostly hunter. He was able to avoid most of them but the final two managed to hit him dead on, blasting him back several feet. He growled and released a powerful purple beam from a cannon that emerged from out of his robotic arm. Sam flew out of the way, but was quickly hit by a rocket he had released simultaneously. She was blown out of the sky and crashed down hard on the ground. Wounded and weak, she struggled to bring herself back up to her feet. Seeing the perfect opportunity, Skulker cast a glowing green net around her, effectively trapping her in place.

"Sam!" Danny called out running to her side. He picked up a piece of flaming shrapnel on the ground and began desperately cutting through the net.

"How cute. The ghost child has adopted herself a human pet," Skulker mocked them from above. "Too bad he won't be able to save you!"

Realizing he had to get rid of the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter, he picked up another, much larger piece of flaming shrapnel. He gave it all of his might and threw it at his adversary… only for it to land about three feet in front of him.

"Wow, that was a really lousy throw."

"Really?" Skulker aske in mild annoyance. "What was _that_ supposed to do?"

Danny shrugged his shoulders, able to offer no good answer, and continued cutting through the net.

"No matter. You shouldn't have gotten yourself involved in this, human. Now I will have to mount you _both_ on my wall!"

At that moment, Danny finally broke through the netting, releasing Sam. Instantly, she fired of a blast of green energy at the outermost turbine on the right wing of Skulker's jetpack. The ghostly hunter immediately lost control and began swooping and looping through the sky before ultimately crashing through a nearby building.

"Now's our chance, come on!" Sam yelled, grabbing Danny by the hand. She immediately flew off, carrying Danny along with her. She raced through the sky, before dropping into an alleyway on the far side of town. She turned them both intangible and phased them through one of the walls.

The room inside was mostly empty. There were only a few cots on the floor, but no other furniture. The windows and doors were all boarded up. Ghost-fighting weapons of all shapes and sizes lined the walls. Monitors were set up around the room. Danny recognize the displays as ghost-tracking systems, reminiscent to ones his parents designed.

"This is one of my safehouses," Sam explained. "I have a half dozen or so set up around the city for when I need to lay low from Plasmius' henchman.

"So," she continued. "You saved my life back there. Maybe you do still care about us."

"Sam, I never stopped caring about you. But this…" he said gesturing around, "…this isn't my world. It's wrong. It's… it's changed somehow. I don't know what he did, but Vlad messed with reality somehow."

"What are you talking about?" Sam asked, more than a little confused.

And so, Danny explained everything. He told her how he acquired his powers and about their various adventures together, fighting evil ghosts. He told her about the ghost king's invasion, the alternate timeline, and the Disasteroid crisis. He told her about the day's previous events and how he got there. When he finished, there was a long silence between them.

"So," she began, finally speaking, "you're not the Danny I know. All of this…is wrong."

"I know this sounds crazy and I don't expect you to believe me but—"

"No, I totally believe you. If there is one thing that makes sense, its that this isn't how the world is supposed to be. I used to love having these powers, but I would give them up in a heartbeat if it meant putting things right. No one should have to live like this."

"Trouble is, I don't know how to fix this," Danny admitted. "I don't even know how all this happened. I want you to explain everything to me, starting from the day you got your powers."

"Well it played out almost exactly like it did in your world. We were in your parents' lab and I tried to convince you to check out the ghost portal. You almost did too but you lost your nerve and wussed out like a total baby at the last second and went running out of the room. It was really weird too. You weren't really acting yourself, like you were possessed or something."

 _Or overshadowed_ , Danny thought, noticing a potential clue.

"Anyway, I went in myself and got ghost powers just like you did. We had similar adventures to the ones you had and everything was great. I was having the time of my life!"

"So what changed?" Danny asked, eager to hear where this was headed.

"Well, I'd say it all started with your parents' college reunion in Wisconsin. While you were there, your dad had some kind of mental breakdown or something and attacked the guests. He later tried to claim a ghost made him do it, but everyone thought he was nuts and the police threw him in jail. Having nowhere else to go, your family moved in with Vlad Masters and I never saw or heard from you afterwards.

"I continued fighting ghosts for another month or so. But while I was doing that, Vlad was putting all the pieces in place for his hostile takeover. I was too busy shoving the Box Ghost down the Fenton thermos in Amity Park to notice any sinister plots hatching in Wisconsin. By the time I found out what he was really up to, Plasmius had opened the ghost portal and unleashed an army of ghosts across the globe. In a little over a day, he crowned himself ruler of the entire world! The ghosts started creating chaos all over the world. Ember enslaved everyone's minds, Technus took control of all technology, and Walker started arresting people for breaking ridiculous rules no one's ever heard of! We've tried to stage a little rebellion here, but we're not making much of a difference. As much as I like to take on the establishment, this is way out of my league!"

"And when did he take over exactly?"

"A little less than two months ago. Here, let me show you," She walked over to one of the of the monitors and typed something in. Immediately, a scan of a newspaper clipping appeared on the screen. It had a black and white photo of Vlad in front of a few world leaders as he accepted the title of King of the Earth. Danny's eyes settled on something he was wearing. Around his neck he wore a metal medallion with an inscription on it. The picture was too blurry to make out the exact letters, but Danny knew what they were right away: CW.

"Clockwork, of course!" Danny exclaimed, piecing it all together. "Vlad must have stolen one of his time amulets and changed the timeline so I never got my powers!"

"Clockwork? That's the time ghost, right?" she asked, recalling what he told her about the dystopian alternate future.

"You got it. Which explains how I got here. He must have sent me to this timeline to stop Plasmius. The good news is, now I know how to beat him. All we have to do is get the medallion away from him and it should send him back to my timeline."

"That's not going to be easy," Sam countered. "He mainly stays in his castle in Wisconsin and that places has more defenses than your parents have ghost-fighting gear! We won't be able to get in there without some serious help!"

Then a wide grin spread across her face. "Thankfully, I know just who to ask…"


	2. Chapter 2

_Meanwhile, in Wisconsin…_

Vlad was hard at work in the kitchen preparing a meal for his beloved new family. At long last, he had everything he ever wanted and he couldn't have been happier. He was cooking Maddie's favorite meal to show her just how much it meant to him having her be his queen. Let it never be said that he was a worse husband than that idiot Jack…

He had just walked over to check the oven, when a hand grabbed his ankle and phased him through the floor and into his secret lab below. He quickly changed into his ghost form, his hand igniting with spectral magenta energy, ready to attack his foe. He relaxed as Skulker stepped out of the shadows.

"Skulker? What is the meaning of this!" he hissed.

"I came to deliver my report. I almost eliminated the whelp, when a human stepped in to save her."

"So you're telling me a human was able to beat you? Honestly, when you told me you were the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter, I assumed you hadn't gotten that title by default!"

"I just thought you should know that that human was _your_ adopted son!"

" _Daniel?_ That's impossible! He couldn't possibly…"

Vlad trailed off, mentally examining this new development. There's no possible way this timeline's Daniel could have possibly have been in Amity Park to save the ghost girl, which meant…

"Clockwork! That meddlesome time spirit must have restored Danny's memories of our original timeline and sent him to Amity Park to aid that Manson girl!"

"What are you talking about," Skulker asked, having no idea what this "timeline" nonsense his employer was going on about was even all about. "I don't see why you're so upset. He's just one human child. He's just one human child

"Never mind, you big oaf! Just get back to Amity Park and await further instructions."

Skulker scowled, not liking being ordered around like an underling one little bit. Nevertheless, he did as he was told and flew off to Amity Park.

"I can't believe this!" an extremely frustrated Plasmius ranted. "I go through all this hard work to get everything just the way I wanted it, and he still finds a way to mess everything up! He's more like his idiot father than he realizes!"

He floated over to his main work desk and punched a button on the underside to activate the communicator.

"Walker! I need you to go to Amity Park and detain a rule-breaker…"

"Fine. What rules has he broken?"

"All of them…" Vlad replied, smiling.

 _Back in Amity Park…_

Sam and Danny stood before Fenton Works, the only untouched building in Amity Park. All the others had been badly damaged, but his family home stood strong. Of course, the glowing green ghost shield around it probably had something to do with that.

"Come on, he's in here!" Sam exclaimed. She grabbed Danny by the hand and dragged him inside.

Inside the building, it was clear the place had faced some serious neglect. There was garbage and clothes everywhere, furniture had been thrown about, and there were green stains all over the walls. Whoever was living here clearly wasn't big on housekeeping.

They descended into the basement, into his parents' old lab. It was pitch black down there. The only source of light was a series of monitors set up on a desk in the far corner. They cast a dull blue light, which was just enough for Danny to make out the outline of a chair and someone sitting in it in front of the desk.

"Hey Danny, long time no see, dude."

The lights suddenly turned on and the chair swiveled around. Danny gasped at what he saw.

It was Tucker… or rather what was _left_ of him! His body was now almost completely mechanical. Only his face still looked human. However, even that wasn't fully untouched. The upper righthand corner of his face was now completely robotic too, leaving him with one glowing red mechanical eye. A series of wires connected his robotic body to the futuristic, hovering mechanical chair.

"Tucker…What happened to you?" Danny asked in complete shock.

"Sam and I were cornered by Walker and his goons. There was a big fight and Sam was able to drive them back, but I took a hit from one of Walker's energy blasts. My body was damaged beyond repair so I had to be transferred into this mechanical body. Now I don't need to eat, to sleep… I don't hate this form, really. I don't mind looking like something out of Cyber Zombies, but not being able to eat meat… that's just cruel and unusual punishment!"

"Tucker, I'm so sorry. I—"

"It's not your fault, dude. You weren't there. There's nothing you could have done. Besides, I got some sweet powers out of the deal. I can now control any piece of technology in a twenty-mile radius! I mean, I have to kick Technus out of it first, but he's not the brightest bulb on the porch so that's not too difficult. I've always wanted to be closer to technology and I can't be any closer now, can I?"

"But if I had been here, maybe I could have…"

"What's done is done. What's important know is that you get Clockwork's medallion and _undo_ it!"

"Wait? How did you know about that?"

"I have each of the safehouses monitored in case of emergencies. I heard everything you told Sam. The good news is, I can help you. If I can get close enough to that castle, I can shut down the security. The bad news is, the place is bound to be crawling with guards, not to mention Plasmius himself! As tough as Sam is, she's not strong enough to take them all on by herself."

"I hate to admit it, but he's right! I'm not strong enough to take them all on by myself. I only got these powers a few months ago. I'm still learning. I don't know how to use them all."

"That's ok," Danny reassured her. "I do. Come on, I'm going to teach you two years' worth of training in two hours!"

 _The following scenes play out as part of a montage sequence…._

First up was the power of duplication.

"OK. This one's a little tricky. It took me a while to learn it, but Vlad's a master at this, so its really important you get this right!"

Sam attempted to split herself in two, but succeed only in splitting her head in two.

"Did it work?" both heads asked in unison.

"Well…" a slightly creeped out Danny gestured towards her heads.

Both heads turned to face one another and screamed when they saw each other.

Next up was conjuring a ghost shield.

"Conjuring an energy field around you can temporarily deflect your enemies' attacks. Go ahead, show me what you can do!"

With a little effort, Sam was able to conjure an orb of glowing energy around herself.

"Awesome job, Sam!" he congratulated her. "Now let's see how well it holds up."

He took one of the ghost weapons off the wall and fired a blast at the shield. The orb went flying backwards, crashed into the wall, ricocheted off, crashed into the floor, and bounced off that as well. Sam, in her protective bubble, began bouncing around the room like an out of control bouncy ball. During one of her bounces, she struck the side of Tucker's hovering chair, sending him flying.

"Well that's just great," he muttered. "The world's first half-ghost pinball!"

Next, they tried cryokinesis.

"This power I only got recently, but it's come in pretty handy. With it, you can freeze your foes in their tracks!"

Sam blew a cold blast of freezing ghostly energy. "Hey guys, how did I…do?"

She looked over to see Danny and Tucker frozen in a block of ice. Danny's hand was raised in a thumbs up position.

They moved on to the ghostly wail.

"Alright. This is the strongest of our abilities. It can take down anyone and wipe an entire army at once. But it sucks out all of our energy and strength, so it should only be used as a last resort!"

Sam attempted a ghostly wail, but it only managed to minorly rattle some of the equipment on the walls. Tucker gasped in surprise when a glass of water next to him on the desk exploded. The water splashed onto some nearby devices, causing them to short circuit.

"Nooooo!" he cried in despair. "My technology!"

Danny's face collided with the palm of his hand and he shook his head. "Oh great. If we encounter the Glass Ghost while we're there, we'll win for sure!"

So, they decided to try duplication again…

This time Sam was able to conjure three duplicates. Unfortunately, they all seemed to have come out…wrong. One was all crinkly and bent out of proportion like a cubist painting. One seemed to have developed a bad case of ecto-acne and appeared to be melting. The other appeared to have inflated like a balloon, and looked like it weighed 900 pounds like a sumo wrestler. Sumo Sam, unable to walk because of her immense weight, began rolling around on the floor like a bowling ball, ultimately knocking over Tucker.

"Aaaaaand… we're back to pinball."

They tried each ability a few more times, with Sam improving after each iteration. After about four or five tries, she seemed to have gotten it!

 _End of montage…_

Danny and Sam were sitting on the roof of the op center looking at the stars.

"You know, no matter how many times I look up at the night sky, it gets more beautiful every time I see it," Danny commented. "Just like you."

Sam blushed and looked away.

"You know, ever since I got these powers, I haven't had time to stop and appreciate the beauty of nature anymore. I used to spend all my time trying to protect it, but now…"

"You never did tell me what it was like. When you first got your powers, I mean."

"At first? It was fantastic! More than that, it was exhilarating. For the first time in my life, I felt like I was really making a difference in the world, you know?"

"Yeah. I think I know _exactly_ what you mean."

"Anyway, it all seemed so much more fun back then. Fighting ghosts, getting the occasional payback on Paulina, sneaking away from my parents and their ridiculous rules…"

She trailed off, becoming very quiet. She looked down at the ground, a sad expression on her face.

"Sam, what is it? What's wrong?"

"You know how my parent were so proper and how much they hated anything 'abnormal'? Well, they didn't take kindly to Vlad's takeover. They didn't care for the idea that a _ghost_ was in charge, and that he brought more ghosts with him! They adamantly spoke out against him. One day, they held a big rally of concerned parents to protest against all the ghosts. Tucker's parents were there too."

"So, what happened?" Danny asked, not liking where he thought this was heading.

"Walker and his police force arrived to break up the protest. They arrested everyone in attendance and hauled them away. I haven't seen my parents since. I don't know where they are, what happened to them, or if they're even still alive. I think that's the worst part…not knowing. At least if I knew they were gone I could grieve and move on. But instead I'm stuck in some cruel purgatory between the hope that they're still out there and the fear that they're not. It's funny, I spent my whole life fighting them and now… I just miss them so much."

She buried her face in her hands and was silent.

Danny put a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. "Sam, look at me." He pulled her head towards him so he could look her in the eye. "I will fix this. I promise. _We_ will fix this. Together."

She forced a smile and looked down. For the first time, she noticed that her hand had closed around his. She leaned in closer and he did the same…

 **Boom!**

They were both jolted to attention as a massive explosion shook the building. A massive bolt of energy had struck the side of the ghost shield. Suddenly another bolt hit the shield, then another, and another. The looked down to see Walker standing with over fifty police ghosts in behind him.

"Attention Daniel Fenton," he shouted up at them. "You've broken the rules and the time has come to pay the consequences! You, Samantha Manson, and Tucker Foley have all been charged with conspiring against King Plasmius. Surrender peacefully and we will be lenient in your sentencing."

With that, each of the ghosts below began to fire off blasts at the shield. With each blast, Danny could see it getting weaker. Small cracks were already beginning to form in its sides.

"That shield won't hold them long. Come on, let's go!" Sam cried.

Together, they ran back into the building and down to the lab. Tucker was hard at work, desperately trying to activate the defenses but to no avail.

"The shield is almost down," he reported. "They'll be in here any minute!"

"Then you have to teleport us out of here!" Sam ordered.

They all heard a large crash, indicating that the shield had finally broken. The ghosts were in the building.

"I've never brought people with me before. I don't know if I can!"

"Well whatever you're planning on doing, can you do it quickly?" Danny pleaded. "We have to get out of here!"

"Oh, you're not going anywhere, punk."

They all turned to see Walker and at least twenty police ghosts. Over a dozen more floated in through the walls, surrounding them on all sides.

"You broke the rules, son. Now you and I have a problem."

"Stand back, Danny," Tucker instructed him. "This is about to get messy!"

He pressed a button on the arm of his mechanical chair and several panels opened on the walls. Large cannons emerged from each crevasse and began firing large globs of green goop, trapping several of the police ghosts. Walker's forces scrambled, desperately trying to evade the slimy projectiles.

A group of them with large riot shields surrounded and moved in on Sam. Wasting no time, she split herself into four duplicates. Each one let off any icy blast, freezing the S.W.A.T. ghosts in solid ice.

Danny ran to a nearby wall with mounted ghost-hunting equipment and began scanning it for something he could use. "Let's see… Spector deflector? No… The booo-merang? No… What's this thing? A ghost speed gun? Why do we even have that?!"

Meanwhile, Sam was finding herself under fire by a dozen of Walker's goons. She immediately cast a shield up around herself but knew it wouldn't last long. Learning from her training session, she backed up into the wall and was launched into the air. The glowing bubble began ricocheting off of everything it touched and began bouncing around the room uncontrollably, knocking around ghostly police officers in the process.

"Yes! Fenton Wrist Rays," Danny exclaimed in excitement, strapping the weapons to his wrists.

At the same time, a very fed-up Walker fired a blast of magenta energy at Sam's shield, causing it to pop. She crashed to the ground, dazed and weakened. He used one hand to close around her neck, pinning her to the ground, and raised the other into a glowing fist, preparing to strike.

"I've had enough of this! I'm sending you up the river."

At that exact moment, Danny blasted him with his wrist rays, sending the corrupt warden flying. Meanwhile, mini-turrets emerged from secret compartments in Tucker's chair and he began blasting back the ghost troopers with rapid-fire green bolts.

But it was no use. More and more ghosts poured in and the ones that had been trapped were quickly breaking themselves free. They were surrounded and vastly outnumbered.

"Stand behind me, guys!" Sam instructed. "I'm going to try that wail thing!"

But before she got the chance, a small black cube with green circuitry landed at her feet. Suddenly, the cube expanded, trapping Sam inside, leaving only her head and neck visible. The cube glowed green, forcing her back into her human form.

Finally making himself visible, Skulker hovered over the cube. "At last, ghost child, I have you!"

"Sam!" Danny yelled. He ran over to help her but Walker struck him with a burst of green light, binding his hands and feet in glowing green energy cuffs.

"Tucker, get out of here! Teleport yourself away while you still can!" Sam yelled.

"But I—"

"NOW!"

With a sigh, he reluctantly pressed a button on the arm of his chair. A glowing yellow portal opened in front of him. He was pulled through it and the portal closed behind him.

"You just let him get away!" a frustrated Skulker growled at Walker.

"It doesn't matter. These two were the ones he really wanted anyways."

Walker walked over to his two prisoners and knelt down to look at them at eye level.

"Daniel Fenton. Samantha Manson," he grinned. "You're under arrest…"

 _End of Episode 1…_


	3. Chapter 3

Danny and Sam were taken to a high-tech futuristic prison. Exactly where it was they couldn't say. Once they arrived at the prison, Danny and Sam were separated and each taken to separate cells. Danny's cell was a cold, metallic room with a shimmering green energy field to keep him trapped instead of bars. Mechanical shackles were fastened to his hands and feet, leaving him suspended by the ceiling. He was hanging there for who knows how long before Walker arrived to interrogate him.

"Now listen here, punk, and listen good because I'm only going to say this once… I'm going to ask you a few questions and you're going to tell me everything I want to know. Otherwise, I will make your sentence _very_ unpleasant. During your stay here, I will be your judge, executioner, jury, executioner, jailer, and, if necessary, your executioner!"

"Wow. That really is your favorite part of the job."

Walker shrugged his shoulders. "A job has to have some perks, don't it?

"Now, you're going to tell me what you were doing in Amity Park and why you were helping that Manson girl or I'll—"

"That's quite enough, Walker. I'll take it from here," a familiar voice called out.

From out of the shadows stepped Vlad Masters, a sinister smirk on his face. Begrudgingly, Walker did as he was told and left, leaving Danny alone with Vlad.

"Well, well, Daniel. Here we are again. You, trapped, powerless, completely at my mercy. How many times have we been here before, hmm?"

"As I recall, it ends with you losing. Every. Single. Time."

"That might have been true in the past, but not this time. I've fixed everything in my favor."

He pulled a golden amulet out from under his shirt. "Funny the power contained in such an unassuming little trinket, eh Daniel? All I needed to do was make one slight edit in the timeline and I was able to get everything I ever wanted. It was so easy too. All I had to do was go back and overshadow you and ensure you never stepped foot into that portal. With you without your powers, there was no one to stop me from taking over!"

"But Sam got ghost powers, and there's no way she'd let you get away with this!"

"True, but there wasn't really anything she could have done to stop me know, now was there? Afterall, she had her hands full with ghosts in Amity Park and she'd never even met me. How could she possibly have known what I was planning? By the time I made my move it was too late! I was too powerful for her to be any sort of threat. Now she's nothing more than a nuisance. A nuisance, I'm happy to say, that will soon be eliminated. And _that_ is all thanks to you, dear boy!

"What's the matter? You're so quiet, Daniel. That's so unlike you," Vlad gloated. "Aren't you going to make some irksome remark? Some witty banter? Call me a fruit loop?"

"Oh, we're way past that, Vlad. At this point, you're a whole box of fruit loops!"

"Ah, there it is. That same uninspired, unintelligent wit we all know and love. I swear, you must get it from your father." Suddenly, a malicious grin spread across his face. "Who, by the way, is right here in this very prison. Oh yes, he's been rotting here for two months now. He hasn't been having an easy go of it either, I'm afraid. Unfortunately, his health has been declining and his mind… Well, let's just say that his mind has been damaged more than anything else. But not to worry! I got him the best psychologist money can buy…"

 _Meanwhile, in another cell…_

Jack sat alone on the beat-up old cot in his cell. He was thinking about his family and how he'd let them down. He hoped they were alright. Certainly, they had to be doing better than he was. For Jack was in a very sad state. Weak, exhausted, and physically ill, life in prison had exacted a toll on him.

He could hear someone approaching and knew that his psychologist was on her way for their daily therapy session. Honestly, he didn't know why he even bothered. He knew these sessions were supposed to help him cope and improve, but he always found himself feeling _worse_ after each meeting.

"Good afternoon, Jack" he heard her singsong voice. "Are we ready to start on the path of healing today?  
Jack sighed. "Yes… Miss Spectra."

 _Back to Danny…_

"Do you know what the best part is, Daniel? The best part is that I really have you to thank for all of this! You see, without your help, I would never have been able to accomplish this."

"You're lying. I would never help you!"

"Directly? No, I seriously doubt that you would. But indirectly? Indirectly, you made all the difference. You see this timeline's version of you still had the ability to contact Sam and warn her about me, but you didn't. You didn't see it. I'm sure you could have, had you really tried, but you didn't want to see it. Why would you? Afterall, you were having such a great time with Uncy Vlad!"

Danny stifled a laugh. "Do you actually expect me to believe that? We both know you're a lying piece of cheese."

"I may be a lying piece of cheese, but I think you already know that in this instance I am actually telling the truth. After all, telling a lie that will hurt you is nowhere near as gratifying as telling a truth that will break you!"

Danny hung his head in defeat. As much as he didn't want to accept it, he _could_ sense that Vlad was telling the truth.

"And thanks to your efforts, from both timelines, I can now finally eliminate that meddlesome friend of yours. I believe you're already familiar with the Plasmius Maximus? Well, I've made a few improvements. It can now remove ghost powers for an entire day. Which will be more than enough time to dispose of her. You see, while I was looking for the skeleton key, I had the misfortune of being eaten by a certain four-armed behemoth. Thanks to my ghost powers I, of course, survived. Unfortunately, I seriously doubt a teenage girl with no ghost powers would be quite so lucky…"

"No! I will get out of here Plasmius! And when I do…"

"Not this time, dear boy. This time, I dare say, you are well and truly beaten. You will remain here until I find a way to bring back this timeline's Danny. In the meantime, you can sit here and think about how friend is about to get eaten and how its all your fault!"

With that, he stepped out of the cell and turned into his ghost form. "Farewell, little badger." Laughing maniacally, he flew off to parts unknown, leaving Danny alone with his thoughts.

He couldn't believe that he had abandoned his friends for Vlad. Worse still, he actually seemed to have enjoyed spending time with him. He couldn't imagine how losing his powers would completely change his perception of his archnemesis. And yet… When he first met Vlad, he actually thought the billionaire was kind of cool. A little odd, sure, but he liked him nevertheless. The only thing that changed that opinion was his discovery that Vlad and Plasmius were one and the same… a discovery he only made because of his ghost powers.

Still, he should have been able to figure out that the two were actually one eventually, especially after he possessed his father. All the clues were there. The evidence was obvious. Of course, he'd missed the obvious before. Dr. Bert Rand, M. Bersback Cruise Lines… He'd had the obvious staring him in the face several times before and still managed to miss it. And if he had actually been enjoying his time with Vlad on top of it… He hated to say it, but he was now convinced that Vlad was telling the truth and that he was partly responsible for all this.

He soon found his thoughts drifting towards his father. How could he have left his dad to rot in jail and not have done anything to help him? He hoped his father was doing better than he was.

 _Back with Jack…_

"So, tell me Jack, are you finally ready to admit to yourself why you're _really_ here?" Spectra asked, a deceptively innocent smile on her face. "After all, the sooner you admit the truth the sooner we can begin your road to recovery!"

"But I'm telling it was ghost! That ectoplasmic creep took me over. I was framed I tell you! Framed!"

"Was there really a ghost, Jack? Or was the ghost nothing more than a psychological projection of your insecurity over your own inadequacies. I mean, let's face it, you have a lot of inadequacies. You're a screw-up Jack. You just can't do anything right, can you? The fact of the matter is, there's a reason everyone calls you the world's worst ghost hunter."

Jack looked down, unable to look her in the eyes. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I am just a screw-up…"

Spectra's sadistic smile grew as she felt herself becoming stronger and stronger as Jack felt more and more miserable. "I'm glad to hear you admit it, Jack. That's progress! Now do you understand why its so important that you're in here? Someone could have gotten hurt because of your own ineptitude. Truth is, you were putting your own family in danger every time you walked through the front door. You could have killed them Jack. You understand that, don't you? Someone as useless as you should never have been allowed to use high-powered energy weapons. Let's face it, they're better off without you. They're much safer now and probably happier too!

"But the good news is: it's okay to be a failure. Because a failure isn't really an ending, just a new beginning. With every failure you make, a new lesson can be learned!"

"I guess you're right…BUT I STILL SAY IT WAS A GHOST!"

Spectra sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "All right. I guess it's time to bring the ink blots back out…"

 _Meanwhile, in Danny's cell…_

Danny remained suspended in his cell, miserable and alone. His girlfriend was about to be eaten by a giant monster and he was helpless to stop it. It was over. He'd lost. Vlad had finally beaten him. He had no powers, no allies, no hope…

He was interrupted from his self-pitying by a loud alarm. Outside his cell, the lights flashed red. Before his eyes, the energy field that kept him locked in blinked on and off a few times, before permanently going out. His manacles suddenly unclasped, dropping him to the floor. Picking himself up, Danny ran out of his cell. Looking around, he saw that all of the cells had been opened and that the prisoners were running amok. The guards were trying to get them back in line, but their own automated defenses had been turned against them and they had their hands full just trying to avoid their own turrets.

 _Someone must have hacked the prison_ , Danny reasoned. _Tucker!_

Suddenly, his attention was drawn towards a monitor on the far wall that was now displaying Sam's symbol. It soon began displaying a series of text which Danny read aloud: "Danny, I've hacked into the prison's system. I've released the prisoners and turned their own weapons against them, but that won't hold them forever. I need you to get to the armory, find something to defend yourself with, rescue Sam, and get to the roof so I can teleport us out of here. I estimate we have twenty minutes before they regain control of the prison, so you'll have to do all of that in that time. Otherwise, they'll likely recapture you. In which case, you're probably going to die. No pressure. Smiley face."

The screen then changed to display a map with a few red X's. Each X was labeled with one of the locations he wanted Danny to go to.

"Thank you Tucker…" a relieved Danny muttered, running off in the direction of the armory.

 _In Jack's cell…_

"So, tell me, Jack." Spectra asked, holding up a card with an ink blot on it. "What do you see in this picture?"

"That's a ghost!"

"Uh-huh. And in this one?"

"Definitely a ghost!"

"And let's try this one…"

"That's a really blobby ghost!"

"Of course it is. Let's try this one."

"That's me…"

"Finally! Some progress for once—"

"…fighting a ghost!"

Spectra's hand slapped against her face with a cartoonish splat. "All right. One more try. Why don't we—"

She was interrupted by a bolt of green energy slamming against her midsection, sending her tumbling backwards. Both of them turned to see Danny standing with a large bazooka-like weapon he got from the armory, glowing green smoke emanating from its barrel.

"So, tell me, doc, how does that make you feel?" he taunted.

"Danny!" Jack shouted, excited to see his son again.

"Here, dad!" he called, tossing him the ghost bazooka before, strapping his wrist rays back on.

An enraged Spectra changed back into her shadowy black ghost form. "You're going to pay for that you little brat!" she screamed, charging at Danny.

"She's a ghost?" Jack observed. "Ha ha, I knew I wasn't crazy! I mean… I have to go help Danny!"

Danny fired a series of shots with the rays but none of them managed to connect. Spectra's hand closed around his throat and she pinned him to the wall. The fingers on her other hand grew and sharpened into lethal talons, which she poised, ready to strike.

"That was like, what? Twenty shots at close range… and you still couldn't hit me?" She mocked him. "You're an even bigger screw-up than he is!"

Suddenly she was hit with a massive bolt of green energy, blasting her through the wall and knocking her out cold.

"How's that for a screw-up?" Jack asked triumphantly. "Hmph. A danger to me family, indeed!"

He ran over and wrapped his son up in a great big bear hug. "It's great to see you, son. I never thought I'd see you again! You have no idea how awful its been here…"

"Being trapped in this cell?"

"No, the food here! It's terrible! There's no ham, no fudge… So, what are you doing here, anyway?"

"No time to explain, Dad. We have to go save Sam from being eaten by a giant ghost!"

"More ghosts? Well, why didn't you say so?! Let me at 'em…"

 _Meanwhile, in the execution wing…_

Sam was still trapped in the spectral energy neutralizer. Above her head was a giant version of the Plasmius Maximus. In the far corner of the room was a massive cage containing the enraged four-armed behemoth. She was utterly beaten and at their mercy. For all intents and purposes, she should have been dead. The only reason she wasn't was because Walker and Skulker were too busy arguing to commence with the actual execution.

"The girl was supposed to be MY prize!" Skulker fumed. "He had no right to—"

"Are you questioning Plasmius' orders? Because that would be against the rules…"

"I-I…no." the ghostly hunter relented.

"Think about it this way: if that thing eats her, it will be the bigger prize. And since you captured and brought it here, that means you successfully hunted the biggest prize."

"You know… That actually works for me!"

Having settled the dispute, Walker moved over to the control panel and threw a switch. The giant device over her head suddenly sprang to life. It whirred and glowed as it began to charge.

"Now for a good old-fashioned execution." He towered over Sam, a sinister smirk on his face. "You know, this is my favorite part of the job!"

The giant Plasmius Maximus finished charging. The tip glowed neon green as it prepared to fire. Then, out of nowhere, it shut itself off… and then the lights went out. The cube suddenly opened and she felt her ghost powers return.

"Oh, this is going to be good…" she smirked to herself.

In no time at all, she had managed to beat the stuffing out of her two foes, leaving them both dazed and weakened.

"This isn't over, ghost child." A badly damaged Skulker pressed a button on the control console on his arm. The cage opened, releasing the behemoth. "Kill her!" he ordered it.

Instead, the creature slithered over, picked up Walker and Skulker, chucked them into its mouth, and swallowed them whole.

"Not us!" Walker called from inside the beast's stomach. "Her!"

Having devoured the two villains, the red monster turned its attention to Sam. Wasting no time, she created four additional duplicates of herself. The fists on all five Sams began to glow and the charged the ghostly beast. Immediately, it was able to swat one of the duplicates across the room, causing it to splat against the ground and dissipate. However, this left it open to attack and the remaining Sams each dealt it a powerful punch, dropping it to the ground. Weakened, but not defeated, the creature grabbed two more duplicates and ate them as well. Each of the two remaining Sams began flying around the ghost in a circle at rapid speed. Each one fired off a nonstop series of energy bolts at the monster, ensuring it was hit by an endless barrage of energy blasts from all angles. Acting fast, the creature slammed its tail down on the last duplicate, crushing her and causing her to dissipate as well, leaving only the real Sam behind. Sam phased through the ground and came up behind the behemoth. It turned around, just in time for Sam to punch it in the face with all her might, sending it flying across the room. As it picked itself up off the ground, she conjured a glowing blue snowflake and cast it at her opponent. It exploded into a brilliant blue flash of light, leaving the behemoth trapped in ice.

Sam landed back on the ground just as Danny and Jack arrived to "rescue her."

"Come on, dad. They're holding Sam in here. We have to…" he trailed off, seeing Sam grinning victoriously and the behemoth frozen in a block of ice. "…to bring her with us to go see Tucker, since she clearly already has this well in hand."

"You're darn right, I have this well in hand," she smirked at him.

For the first time, Jack really noticed Sam in her new ghost form. A stern look came over his face. He narrowed his eyes at her. "Sam… You look different… Wait! Don't tell me… You're not wearing that ridiculous goth outfit you wear every day!"

Danny and Sam both breathed a sigh of relief.

"Come to think of it, son, you wear the same outfit every day too!"

"So? You do too!"

"Oh man, you're right… Doesn't anyone in this town ever buy new clothes?"

Suddenly, they heard shouts from the ghostly prison guards coming from back in the cell block.

"Aww man, they've almost retaken the prison," Danny muttered. "We have to get out of here. Follow me!"

Using the map Tucker showed him, Danny led them through the prison and up to the roof, careful to avoid the guards. Sure enough, Tucker was waiting for them.

"Good to see you made it out, guys. I was beginning to get worried… Oh, hey Mr. Fenton. It's good to see you out and about again… Anyway, we gotta get out of here, but I don't know if I can teleport four people. I've only ever gone by myself before. The Modulus Chair wasn't built for that many people. It could kill us all!"

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that," Sam retorted. "I'm sure once the guards get here, they'll take care of that for you!"

"Point taken. Alright everyone, stand next to me. Here hoes nothing…" he said, pressing a button on the arm of his chair. A shimmering yellow portal opened behind them, swallowing them and disappearing in a flash of light.

When the portal opened again, they found themselves in a small town in Wisconsin, just outside of Vlad's castle. They took shelter in a now abandoned motel to rest, recuperate, and go over a plan before they laid siege to Vlad's castle.

"So, are we all good with the plan?" Everyone nodded. "Good. Vlad might be stronger here than he is in my timeline, but he's no less a fruit loop, which means we can still beat him."

"I still can't believe Vladdie would do all this! We were always such great friends…" Jack slumped and looked sadly down at the ground. Then he straightened back up with a determined look on his face and slammed his fist down on the table. "But he's going to pay for messing with my family!"

"I'm definitely ready to take him down," Sam stated confidently. She switched into her ghost form and made a fist, which immediately became encapsulated in green energy.

"I still can't believe it!" Jack exclaimed. "There's finally a ghost in my presence and it's the one that I can't take apart, molecule by molecule!"

"I like my molecules the way they are, thank you!" Sam retorted.

"But you still blasted the heck out of Spectra!" Danny reminded him.

"You're right, I did!" he exclaimed proudly. "Because nobody messes with my son!"

He smiled at his son, who smiled back.

Vlad had messed with everyone here. He had taken something from each of them. Now, at last, it was time for payback!

Vlad's castle looked different from the last time he had been here, in that it was now like a fortress. Massive stone walls had been erected around the entire perimeter. The top of which was covered with barbed wire intertwined with electric fencing. At even intervals along the wall were heat-sensing, automated turrets with a full 360-degree rotation. On the other side of the fence, the entire property was crisscrossed by a red and green laser grid. The red lasers could detect humans while the green lasers would detect ghosts. Different weapons would be activated depending on which laser grid was tripped. On top of that, there were security cameras all over the place, leaving virtually no blind spots for them to sneak through.

Danny, Sam and Jack were all waiting on the outside of the castle, just out of reach of the security system's senses. Sam was in her ghost form and Danny and Jack were armed with Fenton Wrist Rays and a variation of the Fenton Foamer respectively. Tucker had stayed behind at the motel to hack the system and to teleport them to safety if things went south.

"Alright, Tucker. We're in position," Danny said through his Fenton Phones.

"OK. Shutting down the defenses in five… four… three… two… one…"

Suddenly, the cameras and turrets all powered down. The laser grid disappeared.

"You did it, Tuck! We're in!"

"Awesome! Let me know if there's anything else you need. Tucker signing off!"

Sam linked arms with Danny and Jack and phased them through the wall. To their relief, the defenses were completely off on that side of the wall too and they were able to just casually stroll through the front door. Once inside, Danny handed each of them a small GPS-like device that Tucker had invented.

"Ok. Plasmius will have the time medallion on him, so if we find him we find it. This place is huge so we'll have to split up. If you see Vlad, hit this button and it will transmit your location to the rest of us so we can find you. Do not, I repeat: NOT, fight him on your own!"

"Yeah, yeah. I hear you… but I still think I could take him," Sam replied, a confident smirk on her face.

"Sam, no heroics!"

"Relax. I was just joking."

"With that, she flew off on in one direction and Jack to run off in another, leaving Danny with only one direction left.

He went upstairs, going down the hallway, looking in every room. But he found that every room was empty, with no signs of life. Even more bizarre, was the lack of guards around the place. Danny had expected there to be at least some form of security in the place. They had planned to be overrun by guards shortly after they shut down the power but the place looked deserted.

Finally, he came to the last door and gasped when he saw inside. The entire room was decorated just like his room back home. Dumpty Humpty gear, space-themed decorations, and more adorned the walls and ceiling of the room. But the resemblance to his home ended there. The rest of the room resembled his room in the mansion they got after the Guys in White bought their house. It had a massive flat-screen TV, state-of-the-art home theater system, and cutting-edge video gaming equipment. Danny had no doubt that this was _his_ room.

He walked in further and looked around, until something on his dresser caught his eye. What he saw disturbed him deeply. They were a pair of framed photographs. One photograph was of him and Vlad at a Packers game and the other was of him and Vlad meeting Buzz Aldrin. In each picture, he had a broad smile on his face. It was clear he was actually enjoying the time he was spending with Vlad. Perhaps even more disturbing was the look on Vlad's face; it was the first time Danny had seen him look honestly content, without the typical devious cunning or malice behind it. It was almost as though he was enjoying spending time with Danny and filling the role of father figure in Jack's absence… The thought of it sent shivers down Danny's spine.

He walked over and sat down on the ridiculously comfortable, luxurious king-sized bed and covered his face in his hands overwhelmed by his own thoughts. Danny had expected to see horrors when he learned that Plasmius had taken over the world… But nothing could have prepared him for this. There was nothing more unsettling than the notion that he was actually enjoying spending time with his archnemesis, so much so that he abandoned everyone he cared about and left them to suffer! But nothing could have cut deeper than the idea that Vlad could have actually been a good father and that they could have actually had a loving family together. The mere notion filled hm with confusion and uncertainty and he began to mentally tear himself apart.

 _Vlad was right,_ he thought brokenly. _This_ **is** _all my fault!_

"Danny?" a familiar voice called.

He was pulled out of his own inner turmoil to see his sister enter the room.

"Jazz?"

Before he had a chance to say anything else, his sister came over and squeezed him tight in a big hug.

"I missed you, little brother… Where have you been? You've been missing for over two days! You can't just run off like that! It's dangerous—there are ghosts everywhere!"

"I missed you too… but I don't have time to explain right now. Where's Vlad?"

"Last I saw, he was in his study. You should definitely go tell him you're here. He's been worried sick about you! Mom too!"

"Yeah, I bet he has," Danny muttered under his breath.

Then those photographs popped back into his head. _Wait, has he?_ Danny wondered. He quickly pushed the disturbing thoughts out of his mind and focused on the matter at hand.

He moved towards the door, but Jazz darted forward, closed the door, and stood in front of it, her arms crossed.

"Hold on! You're not going anywhere until you tell me what's going on. You can't just disappear for two days and then just show up and expect to not have to give an explanation!"

"I _will_ explain, I promise! But first I need to find Vlad…"

"No! Where were you—"

"Darn it, Jazz you're in danger! We're all in danger!"

"Wait, what?"

Sighing, Danny relented and explained everything to Jazz. Not that he expected her to believe him of course. She had been skeptical of ghosts until she discovered his powers. If he never got them in this timeline, it stood to reason that she would still be skeptical. But to his surprise, he found her nodding in agreement.

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't suspect Vlad was hiding something from us," she agreed. "He tried to hide it, but it was obvious he hated dad and really liked mom. He told us that the half-ghost released the ghosts from the Ghost Zone and that he has been fighting to kick them out and save the world. That's why he's forbidden us from leaving the house, to keep us safe. I see now that he was really just trying to keep us from seeing the truth. Still, I can't believe Sam is half ghost! Though, I suppose it should have been obvious in hindsight. Her ponytail always did kind of float above her head…"

"Now do you see, why it's so important that I get to Vlad? I have to stop him and fix all of this!"

"Yes, follow me! I'll bring you to Vlad's study. With any luck, he's still there!"

She led him up another flight of stairs and through a pair of giant ornately carved wooden doors. Inside, was an extravagant study with all manner of fascinating knick-knacks… but not a sign of Vlad.

"Well he was here," she said, looking around, genuinely confused.

"Well he seems to be completely missing, just like the guards in this place. I'm still surprised he doesn't have any form of security in here."

"That's because I'm the only security I need, dear boy."

They both turned around to see Plasmius floating above them, the time medallion hanging from his neck. With a sinister grin, he split himself into over a dozen duplicates, surrounding them. Immediately, two more duplicates phased through the wall carrying an unconscious Sam and Jack with them.

"I mean honestly, did you really expect I wouldn't anticipate this. Did you really think it wouldn't be obvious that this would be your next move after breaking out of prison? I _let_ your little tech geek friend shut down my defenses just so I could lure you all in and get you right where I want you."

Jack and Sam began to stir and raise to their feet. Sam immediately took in the situation and rushed toward Vlad but was intercepted by five of his duplicates and restrained. Before he could even move, Jack was tackled by another of Vlad's duplicates.

"You see, Danny? Your friends can't help you. You can't even help yourself! You're nothing without your powers. Danny Fenton was a little nobody. The only thing about you of any worth was your abilities, and now you don't even have those. What hope could you possibly have of defeating me?"

"I will stop you, Plasmius. I may not have my powers, but I still—Mom! Get out of here!"

"Maddie?" Vlad exclaimed, in shook whirling around. To his great frustration, he found that there was no one there and that he'd just fallen for the oldest trick in the book. He turned back around just in time to see Danny grab his time medallion.

"Dude, one timeline or another, you'll always be the same old fruit loop."

"Nooooo!" Vlad screamed as Danny ripped off the medallion, casting his nemesis back into his own timeline… Or at least, that's what it was supposed to do. Instead, Danny and his allies were horrified to see that Vlad remained exactly where he was, completely unaffected.

"I don't understand. Why are you still here? You don't have a medallion!"

"Neither do you, dear boy. Or have you failed to notice that, throughout this entire venture? The time medallions may have been the easiest method for me to achieve my goals, but there are other methods known only to the master of time himself. Or at least they were, until I discovered them. This time I've planned for everything—you can't stop me! I'm so many steps ahead of you, you can't even begin to comprehend what's going on!"

He fired a purple blast of energy from his hand, striking Danny in the chest and flinging him across the room. Jazz ran over to her weakened brother and helped him to his feet.

"Leave him alone, Vlad. Or I'll—"

"Or you'll do what, dear child? You're just as powerless as he is. You can't possibly help him. Now I suggest you back away and let me finish this once and for all!"

"Never going to happen. If you want him, you're going to have to go through me!"

Vlad shrugged his shoulders. "Oh, very well. I suppose I'll have to take you both out." Then a sinister grin returned to his face as he focused his attention back to Danny. His hand began to glow purple again as he charged up a far more powerful bolt of energy. "And now…For the last time… Good night, little badger!"

Suddenly, a Jack-O'-Nine Tails wrapped around Plasmius, shocking him. It flung him back and forth around the room, before ultimately slamming him into a bookcase, causing him to crash to the ground. The weapon retracted back to the staff, which was held in the capable hands of Maddie Fenton!

"Stay away from my family!"

"Maddie," Jack cheered, elated to see his wife again.

"I can't believe you! Framing my husband, enslaving the world, manipulating my family, and worst of all trying to hurt my kids! You despicable—"

"Let me guess…Lying piece of cheese?" Vlad retorted, picking himself off the floor and dusting himself off. "I'm sorry to say your son already beat you to that one, so I'm afraid you'll have to come up with something a little more original."

She fired the weapon at him again, but he was ready for it this time. With one well aimed bolt of energy, he blasted the weapon apart.

Suddenly, an enraged look crossed his face. "That does it! I've grown more than a little fed up with all of this nonsense! I sacrificed everything for you! I did everything in my power to keep you happy. I worked to ensure that I was the perfect husband, the perfect father… And yet, you're all still so…so… _ungrateful_! I'm afraid you'll have to be taught a lesson."

He quickly produced a small, silver metal cylinder from his sleeve. It had a tiny little red button on the top that Vlad pressed down.

Immediately, Jazz doubled over in pain before dropping to her knees. Glowing green veins spread across her face and hands. Her skin turned a sickly grayish-green color. Her hair grew duller and bags grew under eyes. She choked and sputtered as her breathing began to slow.

"Jazz!" Danny screamed in terror. He ran over and scooped her up in her arms. Tears began to cascade down his face.

"What did you do to her!" he screamed.

"It's ecto-poisoning, Daniel. It's what happens when pure ectoplasm is introduced directly into the blood stream. It's always fatal, I'm afraid. It's usually a slow and painful process, but she's been like a daughter to me so I gave her a large enough dose to make it quick and painless.

"No…" Danny mumbled, looking down at his dying sister. He could see her breathing slowing even further and here eyes grew less and less focused. "There has to be way to save her. There has to be!"

He felt her hand rub the side of his cheek. " _Forget about me, little brother_ … _It's too late now_ … _You have to stop Vlad_ … _I want you to promise me_ … _Promise me you'll fix this_ … _Promise me_ …"

With that, her head rolled to the side. The rise and fall of her chest ceased. Her hand fell limply to the ground. And Danny knew she was dead…


	4. Chapter 4

For a while time seemed to stop. Danny's face became drenched with tears, his eyes red and raw. He breathed in and out deeply, trying to control his whirling emotions. He was frozen in place, paralyzed by grief. Then he let all of his emotions out in one scream of anguish… A scream that evolved into a wail…a wail that unleashed powerful glowing green soundwaves that shook the building to its very foundations, blasting back Plasmius and causing his duplicates to all dissipate. Vlad was knocked unconscious as parts of the ceiling began to cave in and come crashing down. Danny soon found himself incredibly weak and fell backwards barely conscious. Sam rushed over and roused him back up.

"Danny! Danny, wake up! You have to listen to me! We can still save your sister! We just have to fix the timeline! Do you understand me?"

Unable to bring himself to speak, Danny simply nodded his head. But he suddenly felt a slight tinge of hope break through his despair.

Sam turned them intangible and flew down, down, down to the very bottom of the castle and into Vlad's secret lab.

"Sam," Danny mumbled, finally regaining the strength to talk. "We have to get to Clockwork. He's the only one who might know how to fix this."

"Find Clockwork, you got it!"

She ran over to the wall and flipped a switch, activating his ghost portal.

"You ready?" She asked him, genuinely concerned.

He nodded weakly. "I have to be… for Jazz."

She nodded in understanding. She took his hand and together they flew off into the ghost portal.

They floated through the Ghost Zone for what felt like ages before they finally found Clockwork's lair. They entered the clocktower, but found the place deserted.

"Where is he?" Sam asked. The ghostly master of time wasn't exactly known for taking vacation time, so it seemed a tad bit strange that he wasn't here. They began having a look around, half expecting to find an "Out to Lunch" sign hanging up somewhere. They searched everywhere, but found no sign of Clockwork.

Just as they were about to give up and leave, the far wall blasted apart revealing Plasmius, Skulker, Walker, and a small army of police ghosts.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that too much Daniel, you have much bigger problems to concern yourself with now!"

Before he could issue a command, Sam flew forwards and hit him with a massive burst of green energy, sending the villain skidding across the ground.

He picked himself up with a growl. "Get them!" he ordered.

"With pleasure," Skulker smirked. He launched himself upwards and tackled Sam out of the air, hurtling her towards the ground. He pinned her down before she even had a chance to get back up.

"At last, ghost child… Your hide will finally adorn my wall!"

A glowing green blade emerged from his wrist, which he thrust downwards. Sam was able to twist just enough, for the blade to miss her head by a mere fraction of inch, instead plunging deep into the ground. As he struggled to pull his blade back out of the ground, Sam shot glowing blue ice beams out of her eyes, freezing his mechanical arm. She swung her fist into his frozen arm and shattered it. He staggered back in shock, freeing her in the process. She quickly hit him in the chest with ball of glowing green energy, blasting him backwards. With the ghost hunter down, she turned to engage Vlad.

Danny, meanwhile, was blasting away at the squads of ghostly policeman. Unfortunately, there were far too many and he found that he wasn't really making much of a dent in their numbers. He soon found himself surrounded and overwhelmed. Suddenly he was seized from behind and raised into the air.

"You should have stayed in prison and accepted your sentence like a man, son. Now, you've earned yourself a severely increased sentence…" Walker threatened.

Out of nowhere, a burst of yellow light flared behind the ghostly warden and walker found himself being blasted forward from behind, causing him to drop Danny.

Danny turned to see Tucker in his floating chair, turrets out and ready to fire. "Don't worry, dude. I've got your back!"

Together, they blasted away at the hordes of Walker's goons.

Meanwhile, Sam and Vlad were engaged in a heated aerial battle. Each one firing energy bursts at the other, but neither making much headway over the other. Growing tired of making such little progress, Vlad created a glowing magenta energy construct of a giant spiked mace and used it to strike Sam across the room. Then he transformed the mace into a hundred glowing energy daggers and sent them flying towards his opponent. Just in time, Sam conjured an energy field in front of her. The daggers hit the shield and shattered. Then, she pushed the shield forward. The wall of energy slammed into Vlad knocking him back.

Before he had a chance to charge back at her, the ceiling blew apart. Everyone looked up to see Jack and Maddie flying overhead in a variation of the Specter Speeder. They fired rockets into the hordes of Vlad's henchman, blasting them away.

"Eat hot ecto-rockets, you ghost scum!"

Between Danny and Tucker on the ground and Jack and Maddy in the air, Walker's police force was quickly whittled down to nothing. This, of course, did not sit well with the ghostly warden himself, who fired a glowing pink energy blast at Tucker's Modulus Chair. The chair quickly began to sputter and smoke, and flew around completely out of control.

"I thought I had taken you down once already, punk. Now, I intend to finish the job…"

He fired another ball of energy at the chair, which blew apart, sending Tucker's robot body flying. It fell limply to the ground, losing a few small pieces in the process. Tucker turned his head and looked at Danny, his red mechanical eye flickering on and off.

"It's up to you now, dude…" Tucker said weakly. "You have to stop Vlad… You have to…"

But then his red eye went out and Tucker lay still.

"Tucker, no!" Danny screamed in grief at the sight of his fallen friend.

But he didn't have time to grieve. He was hit from behind by one of Walker's energy blasts. Before Walker could fire another and finish Danny off, he was hit dead on by one of Jack and Maddie's rockets, blasting him through a wall and out of the clocktower.

Skulker, meanwhile, had set his sights on the Specter Speeder. "I grew tired of your meddling, humans," he mumbled to himself, aiming a massive rocket of his own at the vehicle.

"Skulker, no! You imbecile! You'll hit Maddie!" Vlad shouted at his henchman.

But it was too late. He had already launched the missile. It struck the side of the vehicle, causing it to erupt into a giant ball of green flames, blowing it apart.

"Mom…Dad…" Danny choked out weakly. He felt utterly broken, having just watched his best friend and parents die only a few minutes apart from each other.

Danny wasn't the only one deeply hurt by this loss. Vlad was irate. He launched a massive ball of magenta energy at the ghostly hunter, blasting his mechanical armor to pieces.

Taking advantage of his temporary distraction, Sam hit Vlad from behind. He went flying across the room and crashed into one of the gears. However, this did little to slow him down and he rose into the air, enraged.

"I've had enough of this nonsense! The time has come for me to end this!"

He quickly split himself into nearly a hundred duplicates, completely surrounding them on all sides.

"Get behind me," Sam ordered Danny who happily obliged. She let loose a powerful ghostly wail, blowing away all of Vlad's duplicates, causing them all to dissipate. Vlad himself was blown backwards into wall, crashing to the ground below, seemingly knocked unconscious.

Sam felt weak and dizzy and fell backwards, changing back into her human form. Danny caught her midfall and helped her back to her feet. To his horror, he discovered that Vlad was already beginning to stir. With no powers, neither of them would be any match for Plasmius. Their only hope of survival was to hide and hope that the master of time would show up in time to fix things.

He took Sam by the hand and together they ran to the far side of the room and tucked in behind a large vertical gear.

Plasmius picked himself up and looked around. The room looked deserted, but Vlad knew his enemies couldn't have gotten far. They were hiding here someplace…

Knowing that his foes were powerless, he casually strolled through the room, peeking behind gears and posts.

"Playing a game of hide and seek now, are we Daniel? Or is it a game of seek and _destroy_?"

Suddenly a large vertical gear caught his eye. It would be the perfect place to hide behind. He lunged behind it…Nothing.

Meanwhile, Danny and Sam grabbed the side of the gear they were hiding behind and allowed it to carry them up. They climbed the gears and cogs higher and higher, desperate to get away from Vlad.

Vlad continued looking behind and under objects, but to no avail. There was no sign of his opponents anywhere. Then he looked up and noticed the array of gearwork grinding above him. A sinister smile spread across his face as he realized where they must have gone and flew up after them.

Danny and Sam reached a point where two gears were grinding together and would crush them if they stayed on the one they were currently holding on to. Instead, they leaped across to a nearby gear and grabbed hold. Then they prepared to fling themselves over to another vertical gear that could carry them up further.

Vlad, meanwhile, caught sight of the two teenagers and fired a ball of pink energy at them. The ball instead bounced back and Vlad cursed himself as he realized he had just fired at their reflections in one of the shiny gears. He whirled around in time to see them take hold of the vertical gear and climb upwards. Annoyed, he flew after them.

Danny and Sam climbed up to a massive horizontal gear, with a smaller vertical gear in the center. Unfortunately, that gear connected to another large horizontal gear on the ceiling. They realized the could climb no higher and that Vlad had them trapped. With no other alternative, they tucked in behind the central gear.

"Clockwork, if there was ever a time for you to show up, now would be it!" Danny whispered to himself.

Vlad flew up and looked around. There was no sign of them, but there was a good-sized cog in the center and it didn't take a genius to figure out where they were hiding. He blasted the central cog away, revealing Danny and Sam. They both screamed in alarm and stumbled back. Desperately, Danny fired a series of energy blasts at Plasmius from his Wrist Rays, but Plasmius casually conjured up a shield deflecting them.

"Really, Daniel…Did you honestly believe those pathetic little trinkets could possibly stop me?"

Faster than Danny could react to, Vlad lunged forward and seized him by the hand raising him up and crushing the wrist-mounted weapon in the process. Danny raised his other hand to fire, but Vlad crushed that device too. Plasmius sent a current of purple energy through Danny, shocking him. He then threw the weakened boy aside, causing him to slide across the gear and over the side. Danny grabbed the edge with one hand before he fully went over and struggled to pull himself back up. Vlad casually walked over and prepared to finish him off.

"Leave him alone!" Sam shouted. She charged at Vlad, but he made himself intangible and she passed right through him falling over the side herself. Just in time, she was able to grab hold of Danny's foot and held on for dear life.

"At long last, here ends the chase… Goodbye, little badger!"

Vlad fired one last energy beam at Danny's hand, forcing him to let go and drop below.

"Clockwork!" he screamed as they fell to their doom below.

Out of sheer dumb luck, they were both able to grab onto a horizontal gear right before they hit the ground. However, before they could pull themselves up, Vlad fired another bolt of energy at the gear, causing it to come crashing to the ground below, taking Danny and Sam with it.

They hit the ground, the wind knocked completely out of them. He locked up to see Vlad dive down towards them like a falcon, his hands ablaze with magenta energy. Danny realized it was hopeless and that there was no way out of this. Vlad, at last, had won. Danny closed his eyes and waited for the end…

…But it never came. He had expected to feel a sudden burning sensation as he was incinerated by Vlad's energy blasts, but he felt nothing. Everything was quiet…

He opened his eyes to see Vlad frozen midair.

"I am here," a familiar voice called from behind. Danny turned to see that, finally, the master of time had arrived. "I have heard your calls for assistance and come to offer you my aid."

"I don't know how, but Vlad altered the timeline," Danny explained. "I got rid of his time medallion but he's still here. I don't know how to fix this. I need your help!"

"With this matter, I'm afraid, I cannot help you," Clockwork stated matter-of-factly.

"But he enslaved the earth! I lost people I care about…You have to help me!"

"You misunderstand me. It is not that I will not help, but that I cannot help. I can fix only matters of time, but the timeline has not been changed. You are still in the timeline you have always known. "

"But that's impossible! The Ghost Zone invaded the earth. Sam has ghost powers instead of me…"

"I assure you that your timeline is still intact. If it had changed I would now… I suspect that the problem does not lie within time itself, but rather in your _perception_ of time."

"I don't understand. What do you mean?"

"Answer me this: Where would you say you are right now?"

"In your clocktower, in the Ghost Zone. Why?"

"What if I were to tell you that you are still in Amity Park?"

Danny gasped, very much confused. But before he could enquire further, Clockwork disappeared and time resumed.

Vlad landed in front of them, a sinister smile on his face. His hand glowed purple as he prepared to blast them.

"Please don't!" Sam pleaded. "Have mercy, please!"

Suddenly something clicked inside Danny's brain and he finally understood what Clockwork meant.

"It's not real…" he realized. "I don't care what kind of changes were made, there is no timeline where Sam would ever beg for mercy! Which means that you, her…none of this is real!"

Suddenly Clockwork's tower began to twist and distort. The image of Vlad dissolved away. Sam began to laugh…but it wasn't her voice. It was a male voice, one he'd heard before. The imposter Sam turned around. Its eyes now glowing red.

"I have to admit, I'm impressed," it said, with an evil grin. "No one has ever broken free from my trap before."

It fired a sphere of energy at Danny, knocking him back. False Sam suddenly changed shape into a form Danny recognized. It was the same purple and gray horned harlequin face. The same celestial night sky body.

"Nocturn…" Danny muttered, finally catching on to what was happening here. It was suddenly all very clear. When he passed out in the sewer after being blasted by the GIW's ecto-ranium wave gun, Nocturn invaded his sleep and conjured up this false reality, tricking him into thinking the timeline had been altered by Vlad. Danny had to admit it was an ingenious ruse, one that certainly had him fooled.

"Yes, it is I. I have returned to your city to seek my revenge. Imagine my sheer delight when I find you weakened and forced into unconsciousness. The perfect opportunity to pay you back for ruining my plans the first time I invaded your city. I took control of your dreams and trapped you in a nightmare of my own design. I conjured a world that would force you to experience your deepest fears. A world where you failed the people you care about. A world where you turned your back on the ones you loved. Where you would have to watch them die, powerless to save them. Where you lived happily with your archenemy. A world perfectly designed to make you suffer. For the more you believed it, the more entwined into the trap you became. And the deeper you fell, the stronger I became. There's something about you half-ghosts. Your dreams are supercharged. They allow me to tap into powers unfathomable. Imagine it, I was able to get my revenge and grow more powerful at the same time.

"It was an ingenious scheme, one that should have worked perfectly… Unfortunately, I did not count on your powers responding to the shock of seeing your loved ones die. Seeing your sister perish allowed you to tap into your powers just enough to produce a weak wail. It almost forced me out, but just wasn't strong enough. Still, it weakened me enough for that meddling time master to get a message through to you!"

"And he gave me just the right clue to wake me up from this nightmare!"

"Ahhhh, but you aren't awake, are you? You're still here, in the dreamscape. In MY world. Where I am all powerful."

Nocturn suddenly grew to a gigantic size. He raised one massive hand a fired a series of bolts of blue lightning in Danny's direction, destroying the ground beneath his feet and sending him falling into oblivion. Nocturn snapped his fingers again causing a vat of acid to appear below the falling phantom, which he fell into with a splash. With another snap, Danny was back on firm ground, only for an iron maiden to close around him. _Snap!_ Tied to a railroad track about to pulverized by an oncoming train. _Snap!_ Dropped into a tank full of sharks. _Snap!_ Crushed by a giant anvil.

"As you can see, you are trapped here. Forced to endure whatever horrible fate I deem most entertaining. Trapped forever in your own twisted dream…"

"You're right…" Danny whispered, suddenly realizing how to beat him. "This is MY dream! And I control everything that happens here. You might be the master of sleep, but you're still in MY head. And in my head, whatever I say goes. And I say… I'M GOING GHOST!"

He immediately felt himself change back into his ghostly form. Nocturn, meanwhile, felt himself shrink uncontrollably against his will.

"No! What is happening to me! I am the master of sleep! Me! You cannot control me!"

"Actually, I can. Welcome to _your_ worst nightmare."

With that, he fired a ghostly green ray at the evil spirit, knocking him to the ground. Nocturn tried to pick himself up, but a dozen glowing green ghostly Danny arms sprang from the ground and zapped him with ecto-energy. The lightly toasted ghost looked up to see Danny grow over a hundred feet tall. He was frozen in terror as giant Danny's foot came crashing down on top of him, squashing him like a bug. As Danny lifted his giant foot, Nocturn was left flattened on the ground, moaning in pain on the ground most pathetically. Danny scooped up his flattened foe in one hand and clutched him tightly in one fist.

"And now…" he said determinedly, "GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" He threw the screaming spirit like a baseball, far off into the distance.

Danny woke up with a start, eyes wide open. He looked around. He was in an old warehouse, likely by the docks somewhere. His eyes then focused on Nocturn, who had been blasted out of his head and thrown onto the floor. The ghost of sleep struggled to pick himself back up.

"You may have beaten me in there, but I'm more than strong enough to beat you out here!"

Nocturn conjured up a sphere of glowing blue energy and chucked it at Danny. Danny countered by creating a sphere of his own out of green energy and threw it to intercept Nocturn's. Both spheres collided, creating an explosion of neon light, which blew both of them back.

Nocturn's fingers sharpened into long talons and his hands began to glow blue. He lunged at Danny, glowing claws outstretched and ready to strike. Out of pure instinct, Danny conjured a giant glowing green baseball bat out of pure energy. He swung the bat, striking the ghost and sending him flying backwards, crashing into a stack of shipping crates and burying the wicked spirit beneath them.

"Cool, I've got a new power!" Danny exclaimed excitedly.

Nocturn, meanwhile, had dug himself out from under the crates and moved to strike again. Before he could, however, Danny pulled out the Fenton Thermos and uncapped it. Nocturn soon found himself caught in a blue beam of light and pulled inside the container.

"Good night, sleep tight, and don't let the ghost bugs bite," Danny teased, capping the lid back on. "Now to get out of here and—"

"Freeze, ghost scum!"

He turned around to see over three dozen Guys in White operatives, all armed with one of those ecto-ranium wave guns.

Operatives O and K stepped forward. "Hand over the thermos or we will open fire."

Danny hesitated. Nocturn was his enemy, and he just put him through a torturous ordeal. Nevertheless, Danny still didn't feel right turning him over to the GIW. Whatever they would do with him, Danny knew would be no good. On the other hand, he knew he didn't stand a chance against that many wave guns at once. Just one on the lowest setting had completely crippled him. He knew he wouldn't survive being hit by over thirty of them on full blast.

Reluctantly, he tossed the thermos over to Operative K, who caught it.

"Good decision," Operative O nodded. "Now there's just the small matter of your crime…"

He motioned to his men, who all charged their weapons and pointed them at Danny.

"Wait! I did as you asked! You have the thermos!"

"For which we are very grateful. But you still broke the law and for that you must pay…"

Suddenly, Operative K held up a hand, signaling his men to back down. He held his other hand to an earpiece and listened closely to what was being said.

"Yes ma'am. Right away!" He turned to his men. "Alright. New orders: We take the thermos and leave Mr. Fenton alone." He turned towards Danny. "You're in luck, ghost boy. It looks like someone at the top still wants you alive… _for now._ "

With that, the Guys in White turned and departed, taking the thermos that contained the ghost of sleep with them. Danny was left alone in the warehouse, a little confused about what had just transpired.

"I've got a _really_ bad feeling about this," he muttered to himself before flying of into the city.

 _The next day…_

"So, you're saying that in that world _I_ had ghost powers?" Sam asked

They were sitting at a table outside their school eating lunch. Danny told them the entire story of being trapped in Nocturn's illusion. Sam was listening intently fascinated by the notion of her having ghost powers. She'd be lying if she said she never fantasized about the prospect before.

"Yeah, crazy right? The best part is, you mastered all my skills in half the time it took me."

"So you could say, I made a better superhero…" she said with a smirk.

"Yeah, sure. If you want to look at that way", he said staring into her eyes.

"Not necessarily," Tucker chimed in. "Afterall, she did let the whole earth fall under Vlad's control on her watch. Plus, it was really Nocturn all along, so you could say that _he_ made the better superhero!"

A frustrated look of annoyance crossed Sam's face. "Tucker, you know…Sometimes…"

Tucker laughed nervously and looked down at his PDA. "Oh hey, would you look at that. A message from city hall. I guess a mayor's work is never done. Gotta go! Bye," he called, running off before he had to face the wrath of Hurricane Sam.

Satisfied, she turned back to Danny. He had a troubled expression on his face and was looking down at the ground.

"Danny you know it was all bogus, right? Nothing you saw there was real. It was just conjured up by Nocturn to get under your skin. It could never really happen. You'd never let it."

"Yeah, I know. It's not that…" The truth is what he saw there _had_ disturbed him and had been on his mind ever since he woke up. But that wasn't what concerned him know.

"It's the Guy's in White. I've fought them I don't know how many times and they've never been that much of a challenge before. But recently… I don't know who this new commander is, but he's got me worried. He's turned them from a joke to a force to be reckoned with in just a couple months. And those new weapons he built… Just one of them on low took me out, and he's made countless more. They get more dangerous every time I encounter them and they almost got me this time. The next time, I don't know if I can beat them…"

"Of course, you can," Sam replied, kissing him. "You're the savior of two worlds. You've gone up against worse than those losers. When the time comes, I know you'll find a way to beat them!"

"Yeah," he agreed, a smile finally returning to his face. "I guess you're right! There's nothing they can do to make it so I can't beat them…"

 _Meanwhile, in a top-secret facility…_

Agent Alpha marched through the halls like she owned the place. To an extent, she did. She was practically the most powerful person there, second only to the commander himself. She had total authority, provided she had the commander's approval, which she always did. Afterall, he trusted her implicitly. And why wouldn't he? Since succeeding the previous Alpha, she had proven herself time and time again to be as cunning and capable of an agent as he could possibly want.

She walked up to the door of the commander's office, knocked, and went in. She was always nervous when speaking with the commander. He was an extremely intimidating person. Perhaps not physically, but mentally… He possessed an IQ the likes of which the world had never seen before. He could view people like chess pieces and problems as though they were pieces to a puzzle. He was twenty steps (at least) ahead of his opponent at all times. With but a single thought, he could utterly obliterate his enemy with little to no effort on his part. Yes, he was someone who's bad side she did _not_ want to be on…

At the same time, there was no one whom she respected more on the whole planet. When she first came to this organization she was treated very poorly and was greatly disrespected. Afterall, it wasn't easy being the only woman in an agency called the _Guys_ in White. But he was the only one who never treated her differently, but instead immediately saw the potential in her. He gave her every opportunity possible to prove herself. Opportunities she gratefully took advantage of. In doing so, she managed to impress enough people that she was chosen as Agent Alpha's replacement when he was fired.

She would never have attained the status she had today if the commander hadn't supported her from the start. As such, there was no one on the planet whom she was more loyal to. She would follow him to oblivion itself if he needed her to. And her loyalty was rewarded too. He was not the kind of man who would let unwavering loyalty go unnoticed or unrewarded. This is why he trusted her so implicitly. In fact, he trusted her so much that she was one of very few people on the planet who knew the commander's true identity… A secret she guarded ferociously.

She entered his office. It was dark as always, with only the dimmest of lights illuminating its features. There was a large map of the Ghost Zone. On the right was a row of bookshelves, all stacked with books on ghosts and the supernatural. On the right were displays with various artifacts of ghostly origin. The commander himself sat at his desk which was pushed just slightly to the left. In one corner was a small, dim lamp which provided what little light there was in this room. In the other corner was an old, antique music box, its dancer figurine spinning gracefully in circles as it played a haunting melody.

When the commander saw her, he closed the music box, cutting off the eerie tune, and stood up to greet her. He was dressed as he always was: in a long white overcoat that ran down to his ankles, completely buttoned up the neck. He wore a pair of white tactical gloves and white boots. Over his head he wore a white helmet with a large black visor. Every inch of his body was covered by his outfit, leaving absolutely no clue to his identity.

"Good evening sir," she began. "I am here to report that the operatives have successful returned with the ghost called Nocturn."

"Very good, Agent," he responded, his voice quiet, calm, and calculating. "A thorough investigation of his oneiric abilities should prove most fruitful towards our future endeavors."

"If you don't mind my asking sir… Why did you have me order them to let the hybrid go? We could have taken him out right there and then."

A faint sound emanated from beneath the commander's helmet, that may have been a brief, muffled laugh. "When they brought me on as an advisor following the Ghost King's invasion, I provided them with cutting edge technology that could mimic a ghost's abilities perfectly and level the playing field. I created new weapons and equipment to give them the upper hand. I designed detailed battle strategies and plans to ensure victory against our incorporeal foes. They accepted the technology, but not the plans. When they targeted the hybrid, they chose to attack by overwhelming him with sheer force, but with no strategy. As a result, he was able to defeat them time and time again, even though they had all the equipment necessary for victory.

"When I took over from my predecessor, I knew that a change in leadership style was required. No longer would we charge in, guns blazing, without a plan. Instead, we would draw our opponents into a trap and use their own weaknesses against them. Attacking Mr. Fenton today would have gone against my new philosophy for our approach towards the war on ghosts. Had we chosen to engage him today, we would have made the same egregious error as my predecessor—attacking with the best technology available, but no sound strategy. As a result, we would have been just as successful. After all, 'the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.'"

"So that's why you ordered them to withdraw, sir? So we could wait until we had the perfect strategy to defeat him?"

"Indeed… Tell me Agent, are you familiar with Sun Tzu's 'The Art of War'?"

"Not explicitly, sir."

"Pity. It's a personal favorite of mine. There are two quotes from that work that define how I intend to approach our strategy for dealing with the hybrid. The first is this: 'Supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.' The other is 'If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.'

"What I mean to say is, we must first know everything there is to know about our opponent. How he thinks, how he fights, and how he reacts. We need to know his beliefs, opinions, morals, philosophies…His past experiences and his future aspirations. In short, we must know what makes him _him_. For that is the key to our victory. I am convinced that we will always be faced with failure if we fight him ourselves. Rather, the surest path to victory is to have him destroy himself, to tear himself apart from the inside out."

He walked over to his desk and opened a drawer, withdrawing a small remote. He turned around and pressed a button on the remote. Instantly, the map rotated around, revealing an array of monitors. He pressed another button and the monitors came to life. They displayed recorded videos of Danny in action and also displayed various stats, models, and graphs.

"That is why I have ordered our operatives to pursue him these last couple of months. Not to capture or eradicate him, but to observe him. To see how he fights, how he reacts to certain stimuli... In the days that have passed since the Disasteroid crisis, I have gained almost enough data to be able to predict his every move, before he even has the chance to think it. By the time I am through, I will know his own thoughts better, even, than _he_ does. And I almost have enough data to complete my analysis. There are just a few more tests I need to run before we can move on to the next phase of the plan."

"What do we do then, sir?"

"What then, Agent? Then, I believe it will be time for Danny Phantom and I to meet, face to face…"

End of Episode 2…

 _Final Words_ : Well, there it is everyone! My first foray into fanfiction. Hopefully I didn't butcher it! Leave a review, suggestions, and comments. I will try to respond to as many as I can! At the end of my stories, I like to do a segment called dream casting where I suggest actors or voice actors who would perform the roles of new characters had the episode been real.

 _Dream Casting_ : Since he is largely based on Grand Admiral Thrawn, I would say Lars Mikkelsen would be perfect for the role. I would also recommend Vanessa Marshall for Agent Alpha.

My next story will be called "Final Exam", so look out for it if you enjoyed this one…


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